Time to Re-examine Tenure Process?

I have to admit that after I saw this quote, "Someone should gain recognition at the university for writing the great American novel or for discovering the cure for cancer," he told The Associated Press.

I had a hard time taking the rest seriously. For one, surely someone who discovered a cure for cancer would gain recognition at the university, and if one were in a relevant field, writing a "great American novel" would also get significant recognition. If one were not in the relevant field, it would be a hobby like any other and it's not clear why it should get recognition. This makes me think he's blowing smoke. It becomes clearer when he starts talking about how the crisis means we need to re-think tenure. He doesn't offer any reason for this, which makes me think he just thinks it's a good excuess to make the changes he'd like to make anyway. There's no obvious connection between the crisis and tenure or how it's awarded, so we should, of course, beware of smoke-blowers suggesting there is unless they have quite specific reasons for thinking so. A pretty depressing position over-all, I think.

I don't think Ohio State has the largest enrollment. The article says Ohio State's statewide enrollment is 63,000. Penn State has 45,000 at it's main campus but more
than 90,000 statewide, all of which are formally part of the same university, and under the same board and president. Others may be even larger.

Comparisons here are a little misleading, and depend on whether a given state treats branch campuses as different universities within a common system (e.g., the University of California) or as units of the same university.

My reaction was similar to Matt's – maybe the guy has good ideas- but it sounds like he's blowing smoke – very easy and popular to do these days.

OSU's main campus has more than 50,000 enrolled, but apparently isn't the largest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_United_States_university_campuses_by_enrollment